Glassware forming machine



y 1941- R. G. ALLEN 2,251,010

GLASSWARE FORMING MACHINE Filed.April 21, 1959' 3.81189hS-Sh88t 1 III T INVENTOR. R.G.Allen,

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R. G. ALLEN GLASSWARE FORMING MACHINE Filed April 21, 1939 l CLOSED I'Lll Q:

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CLOSED u 0619 M041? 9 Z July 29, 1941.

Mam Am VAL E Aux. Vuvi KNIFE Patented July 29, 1941 2,251,010 GLAS SWARE FORMING MACHINE Russell G. Allen, Alton, Ill., assignor to Owens- Illinois Glass Company, a corporation of Ohio Application April 21, 1939, Serial No. 269,215

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to glassware forming machinery and more particularly to glass gathering and shaping machines of the type illustrated and described in the patent to La France, No. 1,185,687, dated June 6, 1916.

The invention is designed as an improvement in machines of the type disclosed in the above identified patent to La France in that means is provided for accurately controlling the supply of blowing air to the finishing mold in such a manner that air is admitted thereto more gradually than heretofore in order to attain a more even distribution of the glass in the finished product. In the manufacture of bottles by machines of this type, considerable difficulty has been encountered in effecting proper distribution of the glass in the shoulder regions and in the adjacent neck regions of the bottle, the glass tending to be too thin in these regions. by admitting the air to the blank more gradually at the outset than heretofore, and also by momentarily terminating the admission of air after an initial expansion charge has been introduced into the blank and allowing the introduced charge to expand endothermally, the desired even distribution of glass in the regions mentioned may be attained. Y

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an arrangement of valves and a pneumatic system applicable to machines of this type, which will admit air to the blank gradually at the outset, terminate the application of such air momentarily to allow the introduced charge to expand endothermally, and finally admit air to the blank under full line pressure to expand the blank to final form.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a system in which means is provided for accurately regulating the admission of air to the finishing mold and which is variable from a very slow rate of air admission to admission of air at full line pressure.

Other objects and advantages of the invention not at this time enumerated will become apparent as the following description ensues.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the system and its associated valve structures showing the same operatively applied to a molding machine of the type shown in the above mentioned patent to La France;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 1;

It has been found that Fig. 4 is a detail vertical sectional view of the pressure control valve which constitutes an important part of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 5 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating various related phases of the machine operation;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken through the pressure control valve with the parts thereof in one position; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view similar to Fig. '7 with the parts of the pressure control valve in another position.

Bnnsr DESCRIPTION or THE FORMING lineman Reference may be had to the above cited patent to La France for a full disclosure of the forming machine and its operation. In the present instance, disclosure has been made in Fig. 1 of a fragmentary portion of the machine including a section I0 of the central column about which the gathering and forming heads revolve. The upper ring II is provided with annular chambers I2, I3 and M which are arranged above chambers I5, 16 and II in a bracket l8, the purpose of the two sets of chambers being to provide air, gas and vacuum passages of which the air passages only are of immediate concern in connection with the present invention. A blow cam I9 extends around the central pillar of the machine from a point where it is desired to start the blowing operations to a point where the blowing operations are completed. The cam I9 is designed for engagement by a cam roller 20 mounted on a pivoted curved arm 21 that control the opening and closing movements of a main air valve 22 by means of which air is released from the chamber l3 for blowing purposes.

Included in the fragmentary disclosure of Fig. 1 is the upper spider 23 which forms a part of the rotary framework 25 of the machine. A rackbar 26 for actuating the cut-off knife 26' is connected through a link 21 to a slide 28 operating in a slideway 29 and is actuated by means of a cam roller 30 which operates in a cam groove 3| provided in a cam 32 extending around the central pillar. Upon rotation of the machine, the roller 3|), riding in the cam groove 3|, operates to swing the knife through a severing position to a supporting position in engagement with the bottom of the blank mold as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to support the blank during the compacting operation as illustrated in the above noted patent to La France. After the blank has been compacted and shaped in the blank mold, the roller 30 operates to return the knife to an inoperative position at one side of the blank mold.

The fragmentary disclosure of one mold head in Fig. 1 includes separable body blank mold sections 33 and separable neck mold sections 84 operatively associated with each other and providing therebetween a blank mold cavity 35. The body blank and neck molds are carried on a dipping frame 36 which is provided with a lateral projection at its lower end forming the dipping head 31 below which the sectional neck and body blank molds are arranged.

In Fig. 4 the blow slide 38 is shown in position over the dipping head 31 while the closed sections 39 of the blowing or finishing mold are operatively associated with the closed sections 34 of the neck mold. The neck mold sections 34 and the finishing mold sections 39, when closed upon each other in the manner illustrated provide therebetween a mold cavity 40 in which the bottles are blown to finished form.

The arrangement of parts thus far describedis purely conventional and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated therewith. Furthermore, the disclosure of these parts is more or less diagrammatic in its representation, only sufllcient structure of the bottle forming machine being illustrated to permit a ready understanding of the invention which will now be fully described.

Bmar DESCRIPTION or THE AIR CONTROL Arr-sauna Referring now to Figs. 1 and 3, the invention briefly includes a master control valve 4| in the form of a spool valve having an inlet conduit 42 or pipe leading from the main air valve 22 of the forming machine and having a pair of outlet conduits or pipes 43 and 44 leading to an auxiliary needle or throttle valve 45. Air admitted to the throttle valve 45 or pressure control valve from the master control valve 4| through the pipe 43 is conducted under full line pressure through a conduit 46 leading to the blow slide 38. A check valve 46' is disposed in the pipe 43. Air admitted to the throttle valve 45 from the master control valve 4| through the pipe 44 undergoes a predetermined pressure drop in the valve 45 and is conducted to the blow slide 38 under reduced pressure and consequently at a slower rate of admission than when introduced under full line pressure.

The action of the master control valve 4| is controlled by a pair of trip valves 41 and 48 having a manifold inlet conduit 49 or pipe for compressed air and having independent conduits 50 and with the opposite ends of the master con trol or spool valve 4| to control the movements of the valve spool therein. The trip valves 41 and 48 are substantially identical in construction and are operated by means of bell crank trip levers 52 and 53 respectively which are positioned in the path of movement of a trip finger 54 carried on the link 21 associated with the knife actuating mechanism.

The m ster control valve Referring now to Fig. 3, the master control valve 4| includes a valve casing 55 having a valve chamber 56 therein in which there is slidably disposed a valve spool 51. The pipes 42, 43 and 44 communicate with the chamber 56 through the casing 55. The -valve spool 51 is formed with a pair of adjacent annular grooves 58 and 59 therein. The grooves 58 and 59 are of such width and are so spaced from the ends of the spool that when the spool is in the extreme position illustrated in the drawings, the groove 58 establishes communication between the conduits 42 and 44. When the spool is in the other extreme position thereof, the groove 59 establishes communication between the conduits 42 and 43.

The trip valves Referring now to Fig. 2, the trip valve 48 is identical with the trip valve 41 and comprises a casing 68 having a valve chamber 6| therein. The inlet pipe 49 communicates with the upper end of the chamber 6| while the outlet pipe 58 communicates with the lower end thereof. A valve element 62 having a valve stem 68 projecting from the lower end of the casing 68 is maintained seated by means of a spring 64 on a valve seat 65 and normally serves to prevent passage of air through the valve. The lower end of the valve stem 63 cooperates with the trip lever 53, and when the valve element 62 is lifted from its seat, air is permitted to pass from the inlet conduit 49 to the outlet conduit 50 to move the valve spool 51 of the master control valve to the left hand position thereof, which is the other extreme position from that shown in Fig. 3.

The trip valve 41, being identical in construction with the valve 48 but being actuated by the trip lever 52 and having the conduit 5| associated therewith, operates when the valve is open to permit air to pass from the inlet conduit 49 to the outlet conduit 5| to move the valve spool 51 of the master control valve to the right-hand position thereof as shown in Fig. 3.

The throttle valve Referring now to Fig. 1, the needle or throttle valve 45 is a modified form of three-way valve and includes a valve casing 56 having a passage 61 therein establishing direct communication between the pipe 43 leading from the master control valve 4| and the pipe 46 leading to the blow slide 38. Air is adapted to be admitted to the blow slide through this passage 61 from the pipe 43 only once 'during each machine cycle and is designed for the compacting operation while the charge of glass is in the blank mold and the knife is in position therebeneath.

A central valve chamber 68 extends through the casing and is closed at one end by a threaded nipple 69 and at the other end by a needle or air escapement valve plug or assembly 18. The valve chamber 68 communicates with the pipe 44 through openings 1| formed in the body of the nipple 69. The chamber 68 also communicates with the passage 61 through a port 12. A by-pass 13 extends from an inlet port 14 communicating with an internal groove 14' in the wall of the chamber 68 to an outlet port 15 communicating with an internal groove 15 also formed in the wall of the chamber and includes a check valve 16 and a needle valve 11 by means of which the pressure drop across the bypass may be regulated manually.

A piston valve element 18 is slidably disposed in the chamber 68 and is movable from one end thereof to the other, its extent of movement being limited by the inner end of the nipple 69 and the inner end of the needle valve assembly 10. The valve element 18 (Fig. 8) is hollow and is formed with a partition 19 extending medially thereacross in which there is received the threaded end of a guide stem 88 for a spring 8| of ports 83 extend through the reduced portion so that air introduced into the chamber 68 from the pipe 44 may pass through the wall of the piston and enter the port I4 leading to the bypass 13 or the groove 12 leading to the passage 61 as the case may be.

Operation of the air control apparatus In Fig. 6 the various phases of operation of the main air valve 22, the auxiliary throttle valve 45, the knife, the neck mold sections 34, the blank mold sections 33, and the finishing mold sections 39, are diagrammatically illustrated. In connection with this diagrammatic view, it is to be understood that the numerals representing the commencement, duration and termination of certain machine events are merely approximate and are intended to represent the approximate positions of the mold head during its 360 cycle.

The main air valve" 22 operates in its usual manner and it is obvious that regardless of the various valve settings for the control system, air is admitted to the blow slide 38 only when the main air valve is open and when the various valve settings are such as to cooperate with the main air valve to permit such admission of air to the blow slide.

Referring now to Fig. 1 in conjunction with Fig. 6, after the charge of glass has been gathered in the blank mold and while the blank mold sections are still closed upon each other, the knife swings under the mold as at a in Fig. 6 to perform its severing operation and to close the bottom of the closed body blank mold preparatory to the compacting operation in the usual manner. Simultaneously with the movement of the knife, the finger 54 which is carried on the link 21 of the knife actuating apparatus leaves the trip lever 52 and engages the trip lever 53, thus closing the trip valve 41 as at b and opening the trip valve 48 as at c. As a consequence of the opening of the trip valve 48, air is admitted from the manifold connection 49, through the valve 48 and pipe 58 to the right-hand end of the master control valve 4|, thus moving the spool 51 to the extreme position thereof wherein air is admitted from the main air valve 22, which is open as at 11, through the pipe 42, valve 4| and pipe 43 to the passage 61 of the throttle valve 45. From the passage 61 air is admitted under practically full line pressure through the pipe 46 to the blow slide 38 for the purpose of compacting the charge in the blank mold against the knife in the usual manner. The compacting operation is of brief duration and is terminated by closing of the main air valve 22 as at e. The trip valves 41 and 48 and consequently the master control valve 4| remain in their respective positions during a portion of the time that the body blank mold sections are being opened as at I but, prior to full opening thereof the positions of the trip valves 41 and 48 are reversed as at g and h respectively due to the swinging of the knife from underneath the blank mold as at i and the consequent movement of the finger 54 out of engagement with the trip lever 53 and into engagement of the trip lever 52. The position of the valve 4| "is consequently reversed by admission of air from the manifold connection 49, through the valve 41 and pipe to the lefthand end of the chamber 56. .The spool 51 is moved to the right-hand side of the chamber 56 as shown in Fig. 3 and communication from the nipple 69 to the valve chamber as is established.

The main air valve 22 being closed as at e, however, air is not immediately admitted to the valve chamber but is later introduced when the main air valve 22 momentarily opens as at (I to admit a brief development pull of air to the blow slide for introduction to the suspended blank. Such a puff of air enters the chamber 68 when the valve element 18 is in its extreme left-hand position therein as shown in Fig. 4 and enters the by-pass 13 through the port 14. The air undergoes a pressure drop in the by-pass I3 by virtue of the needle valve and ultimately is delivered to the blow slide 38 after passing through the groove 15', port 12, passage 61 and pipe 46.

After the open air development pull 1 has been applied to the suspended blank, the main air valve again becomes closed as at k and the finishing mold sections become closed as at m about the partially developed blank. Shortly thereafter the main air valve again becomes open as at n and air is admitted again through the pipe 42, valve 4| and pipe 44 to the chamber 68 of the throttle valve. Air thus admitted immediately follows the same path as before through the by-pass l3 and is admitted under reduced pressure to the blow slide 38 gradually as at 0. At the same time admission of this air to the chamber 88 causes the piston valve element 18 to move toward the right-hand end of the chamber by virtue of the fact that air is. permitted to escape gradually through the needle valve 10'. Air continues to be admitted gradually to the blank as at 0 until such time as the port 14 leading to the by-pass 13 becomes closed as at 1?. When this occurs, the admission of air to the blank is momentarily interrupted and the air that has already been admitted thereto is allowed to expand endothermally due to the absorption of heat by the air in the blank. As the piston valve element 18 continues to move gradually toward the right-hand end of the chamber 68, the port 14 again becomes uncovered as at q and air again passes through the by-pass l3. Simultaneously,

- however, air under practically full line pressure passes directly through the element 18 as at r by virtue of the ports 83 which move into register with the port 12 and thus air under full line pressure is conducted through the port 12, passage 81 and pipe 46 to the blow slide 38 to effect final expansion of the blank in the finishing mold.

The blowing operation is terminated by closing of the main air valve as at s and almost immediately thereafter the neck mold sections 34 momentarily become open as at t and move out of engagement with the finishing mold sections 39 after which they again become closed as at u in the usual manner of operation of machines of this character. The remainder of the machine operation has no bearing on the present invention be it sumcient to say that the various mechanical machine parts together with the pneumatic air control system is restored to the initial positions thereof at the end of the 360 cycle of machine operation wherein the mold head again resumes its gathering position.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: i

1. The combination with a suction type glassware forming machine including a main air valve having a connection leading to a blow head by means of which air for blowing purposes is ininlet pipe 42 through the valve 4|, pipe 44 and troduced into a blank to expand the same to flnal form in a finishing mold, of a throttle valve disposed in said connection, said valve including a casing having an inlet port and an outlet port, there being a passage through the casing connecting the ports, there being a bypass in the casing communicating at one end with said passage and at the other end with the outlet port, a needle valve for restricting the flow of air through the bypass, and a time delay valve element slidably disposed in the passage and operable solely by the admission of air to the passage through the inlet to divert air entering the passage through the inlet through the bypass and to subsequently pass such air directly through the passage.

2. The combination with a suction type glassware forming machine including a main air valve having a connection leading to a blow head by means of which air for blowing purposes is introduced into a blank to expand the same to final form in a finishing mold, of a throttle valve disposed in said connection, said valve including a casing having an inlet port and an outlet port, there being a passage through the casing connecting the ports, there being a bypass in the casing communicating atone end with said passage and at the other end with the outlet port, a needle valve for restricting the flow of air through the bypass, and a time delay valve element slidably disposed in the passage and operable solely by the admission of air to the passage through the inlet to divert air entering the passage through the inlet through the bypass and to subsequently pass such air directly through the passage While simultaneously passing a portion thereof through the bypass.

3. A throttle valve designed for installation in the connection leading from the main air valve of a glassware forming machine to the blow head thereof, said valve comprising a casing having an elongated valve chamber therein provided with an inlet port adjacent one end thereof and with an outlet port in the medial regions thereof, there being a bypass in the casing having an inlet end in communication with the chamber and having an outlet end in communication with the outlet port, a hollow valve element slidably disposed in the casing, means normally urging the valve element toward the inlet end of the chamber, and means for bleeding the chamber to atmosphere on the side of the element remote from the inlet port, said element having an opening in the wall thereof communicating with the inlet end of the bypass in the normal position of the element and communicating with the outlet port in the opposite extreme position thereof.

4. A throttle valve designed for installation in the connection leading from the main air valve of a glassware forming machine to the blow head thereof, said valve comprising a casing having an elongated valve chamber therein provided with an inlet port adjacent one end thereof and with an outlet port in the medial regions thereof, there being a bypass in the casing having an inlet end in communication with the chamber and having an outlet end in communication with the outlet port, a hollow valve element slidably disposed in the casing, means normally urging the valve element toward the inlet end of the chamber, and adjustable means for bleeding the chamber to atmosphere on the side of the element remote from the inlet port, said element having an opening in the wall thereof communicating with the inlet end of the bypass in the normal position of the element and communicating with the outlet port in the opposite extreme position thereof.

5. A throttle valve designed for installation in the connection leading from the main air valve of a glassware forming machine to the blow head thereof, said valve comprising a casing having an elongated valve chamber therein provided with an inlet port adjacent one end thereof and with an outlet port in the medial regions thereof. there being a bypass in the casing having an inlet end in communication with the chamber and having an outlet end in communication with the outlet port, a check valve in said bypass, a hollow valve element slidably disposed in the casing, means normally urging the valve element toward the inlet end of the chamber, and adjustable means for bleeding the chamber to atmosphere on the side of the element remote from the inlet port, said element having an opening in the wall thereof communicating with the inlet end of the bypass in the normal position of the element and communicating with the outlet port in the opposite extreme position thereof.

6. A throttle valve designed for installation in the connection leading from the main air valve of a glassware forming machine to the blow head thereof, said valve comprising a casing having an elongated valve chamber therein provided with an inlet port adjacent one end thereof and with an outlet port in the medial regions thereof, there being a bypass in the casing having an inlet end in communication with the chamber and having an outlet end in communication with the outlet port, an adjustable needle valve restricting the flow of air through the bypass, a hollow valve element slidably disposed in the casing, means normally urging the valve element toward the inlet end of the chamber, and adjustable means for bleeding the chamber to atmosphere on the side of the element remote from the inlet port, said element having an opening in the wall thereof communicating with the inlet end of the bypass in the normal position of the element and communicating with the outlet port in the opposite extreme position thereof.

7. A throttle valve designed for installation in the connection leading from the main air valve of a glassware forming machine to the blow head thereof, said valve comprising a casing having an elongated valve chamber therein provided with an inlet port adjacent one end thereof and with an outlet port in the medial regions thereof, there being a bypass in the casing having an inlet end in communication with the chamber and having an outlet end in communication with the outlet port, a check valve in said bypass, an adjustable needle valve restricting the flow of air through the bypass, a hollow. valve element slidably disposed in the casing, means normally urging the valve element toward the inlet end of the chamber, and adjustable means for bleeding the chamber to atmosphere on the side of the element remote from the inlet port, said ele ment having an opening in the wall thereof cornmunicating with the inlet end of the bypass in the normal position of the element and communicating with the outlet port in the opposite extreme position thereof.

RUSSELL G. ALLEN. 

